


Safe Place

by Americaswritings



Series: Tim & Lucy moments [1]
Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: A little angst, Chenford moments, F/M, Feelings, Fluff, I need this to happen in the show, Tim is soft for Lucy, but mostly fluff tbh, car talk, they are so cute together, they both realize something very important, tucy moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28677267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Americaswritings/pseuds/Americaswritings
Summary: Lucy realizes that she was wrong; Her safe place is not a place anymore, it's a person.
Relationships: Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Series: Tim & Lucy moments [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103099
Comments: 14
Kudos: 86





	Safe Place

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy,
> 
> I haven't written anything in ages so please excuse my mistakes (english is not my first language & it's not beta read), but with season 3 of the Rookie airing in the US, I have been obsessing over Chenford/Tucy again and couldn't help myself!  
> Hopefully it will help me to get back into writing because I have so much ideas for these two! :)  
> They have so much chemistry and I really hope the writers won't disappoint us this season!
> 
> I got the inspiration for this oneshot when I watched the new promo and read a post by @chenfordmoments on tumblr. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! <3

Lucy was just leaving the women’s lockers room when she saw someone leaning against one of the corridor walls.  
He was wearing a denim jacket over a white t-shirt and had his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. Lucy loved how he looked in uniform, there was no questioning that, but Tim Bradford wearing plain clothes was something else. 

He looked up when he saw her emerging and pushed away from the wall. “What are you doing here?”, Lucy asked, confused as to why he would wait for her after shift.  
He wasn’t exactly the type of person to walk her to the parking lot every day, even if it had been become more frequent after what had happened with Caleb.  
She never brought it up though, scared that if she called him out on it, it would stop.

But today there was no reason for him to wait for her. Since her car had been stolen Jackson would pick her up and give her a ride after shift.  
“Waiting for you”, he shrugged, as if he was surprised she even asked. “Yeah, but why?”

“I found a trace that might lead us to your car”, he announced and watched as hope flashed across her face.  
“Really? When did you do that?”, she wondered, immediately much more awake than before.  
The possibility of getting her beloved car back filled her with excitement. 

“I made some calls, asked around a little”, Tim explained, obviously playing down the effort it had taken him to get the necessary information.  
He wanted it to seem like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was one for Lucy.

Just a few hours ago he had rolled his eyes at how affected she was by losing her car.  
But after telling him that her car had been the only place she had felt safe after what had happened with Caleb, something had shifted.  
They had visited multiple chop shops, but after being unsuccessful at every single one they hadn’t brought the topic up again and Lucy had tried to come to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t get her car back.

“Come on, it’s just a few blocks from here”, Tim declared and she snapped out of her thoughts, falling in step next to him when they made their way to the location.

\---

When Lucy saw the sign of the car service station, her anticipation grew. Tim noticed and rolled his eyes at her, but he couldn’t hide the small grin that was stretched onto his face.  
“Relax boot, there is no guarantee that this won’t be another mislead”, he reminded her and she nodded, trying not to get her hopes up too high.  
But when she saw the orange paint of her car, she couldn’t help but run the last metres towards it. “That’s my car! And it’s still in one piece!”

Lucy turned towards Tim who was trailing behind, a huge smile plastered on her face. “We found it!”  
“Actually I was the one who found it”, he corrected her, grinning. She was adorable, walking towards her car and acting like she was seeing a long-lost friend again.  
He knew that he would make fun of her for it later, but right now he let her have this moment. 

It felt good to see her smiling again. Even though Lucy had made big steps since she had experienced the trauma, he still noticed that she wasn’t as open as before.  
She would keep more to herself, choose her words more cautiously and talk less about her feelings. It took her more time to let people in and trust them. 

He understood that, after all he had barely been able to express and talk about his feelings after what had happened with Isabel. Lucy had been the one to show him that it was worth letting people in and that he didn’t have to keep up a fassade. She had taught him that being vulnerable meant being strong and she had allowed him to just be, not caring about rules or his reputation. 

“Hey, you two, what are doing here?” A man was approaching them, eyeing them suspiciously. “I was just about to close the shop.”  
Lucy had frozen in surprise, but her excitement hadn’t faded.  
“That’s my car”, she started to explain, “it was stolen from me this morning and we searched for it all day.” 

Tim was watching the interaction, knowing that Lucy could handle herself, but staying alert to interfere if he needed to. His smile had faded the second the man had arrived, interrupting their moment of joy. 

Now he was wearing his usual reserved expression that didn’t give much of an insight into what he was thinking or feeling.  
Lucy hated that expression on him, because she couldn’t see through him. The years on the job had taught him so to hide is emotions so well that even her major in psychology didn’t help when he decided to shut her out. Nowaways he barely wore it around her anymore, at least not when they were alone.

“Do you have any evidence for that?”, the man asked her, not quite convinced of her story yet. “Uh yeah, wait a sec.” Lucy rummaged through her purse until she found what she was looking for and offered it to the guy in front of her. “Here are all the documents you will need.”

The man studied them for a moment, before glancing up at her in surprise.  
“I can’t believe I bought a stolen car”, he murmured visibly uncomfortable, “that didn’t happen to me in years. I have guidelines I follow”, he tried to justify, but Lucy brushed it off. 

“I am from the LAPD”, she began and immediately the man’s eyes widened. “If you could give me your contact information so we can reach out to you for an official statement tomorrow-“  
“Of course!”, the man stuttered, clearly taken aback by the woman in front of him being a cop. 

He pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper and started to write on it, offering it to her when he was done.  
“Thank you! That will hopefully help us to catch whoever stole my car.”

The man nodded, glancing between her and Tim. “Is that all?”  
“You got the car keys, I assume?”, Lucy asked, her excitement to get her car back shining through her neutral expression that she used on the job.  
“Yeah, let me get them for you.” 

When the man walked to the back of the shop Lucy glanced towards Tim, a small smile on her face. He hadn’t said a single word and she was glad that he gave her the chance to handle this on her own. He gave her a quick nod of approval and she smirked, glad that he didn’t have anything to complain about.

“Here you go!” The man had returned, extending the keys towards her. “Have a good night!” Lucy thanked him and a moment later they were alone again, standing awkwardly next to her car.  
“I should head home now. See you at shift”, Tim broke the silence, already turning to leave when he heard her voice. 

“There’s no way I will let you walk home!”, she protested, and he rolled his eyes at her. “I’m not going to walk all the way home boot, I will walk to the station where I left my car.” 

“Oh”, her cheeks turned just the slightest bit red before she composed herself. “Either way, you helped me to get my car back, so I’ll thank you by giving you a ride home.”  
She was so determined about it that he chuckled. “Giving me a ride in that hunk of junk doesn’t really count as a thank you, more as me doing you a favor”, he remarked, grinning when he watched her expression shift to one of false indignation. 

“Hey, don’t call my car a piece of junk”, she threatened, raising her hand and pointing her finger at him to underline her words. He couldn’t help but smile in amusement at her. “Now let me thank you by giving you a ride.” She emphasized the words and her tone suggested that she wouldn’t tolerant a no. 

He sighed. “Fine and what about my car? How am I going to get to the station tomorrow?” Lucy thought about it for a second before she shrugged.  
“I’ll just give you another ride”, she announced and he raised his eyebrows to mock her. 

“Two rides in your car? You’re lucky you won’t be my rookie much longer or else you would have to make up for it with many push ups.”  
“Yeah, too bad”, she shrugged, but he saw her smile before she walked over to get into the driver’s seat. 

\---

They spend the ride to his house chattering about Lopez upcoming wedding and listening to the radio. Tim had attempted to switch channels at some point, but Lucy had insisted that “it’s my car so my rules!” He rolled his eyes at that, but when the next song came on and Lucy started to sing along to it, he was glad about his decision. 

He wondered when she had grown so comfortable around him, but quickly pushed the thought away when images of her in a hospital bed came to his mind. He remembered how pale she had been. She had just been through hell and yet she had smiled at him and laughed at his attempts to cheer her up. He had always admired her for that.

When she had joined him back in the shop, he knew that it wouldn’t be the same anymore. She was more serious than before, less chatty and focused to act as professional as possible. He had only noticed then how much he had actually enjoyed their playful bantering and that she would never shut up.

She seemed so carefree and happy now, singing along to the music that sounded from the radio that he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He was certain that she would notice at some point, but she was too focused on the song. 

When they reached his house, he felt a little disappointed. Even though he would deny it, he really enjoyed spending time with her and didn’t want it to end.  
“Now that wasn’t too horrible, was it?”, Lucy asked, turning down the radio that had just finished playing the song she had been into. Even though he knew she was referring to the ride, he blinked in surprise. He hadn't known that his rookie could sing so well. 

But he would keep that compliment to him myself for now.

“Nah, it was okay.” He tried to sound indifferent, but Lucy still smirked in satisfaction at his comment.  
“Don’t let that get to your head, boot”, he snorted and Lucy turned towards him, leaning forward just a tiny bit. "Whatever, I know you loved it!", she said and he gulped.

Before he could do anything he would regret later, he said goodbye and got out of the car. 

Lucy was watching him leave and even though she had been in a great mood before, now she suddenly felt like her bubble had burst. Getting her car back had been a huge relief, but now that she was sitting in it all on her own, it didn't feel right anymore. It was too silent and too empty. 

And watching Tim walking towards his home made her realize something. Oh, she had been so wrong.

“Tim?”

He had nearly reached the frontdoor when he heard her voice. She had gotten out of the car too, walking towards him but stopping when she reached the point where his property began.  
It seemed like she didn’t want to cross a line, which felt ridiculous, considering how many lines they had crossed this evening already. 

“Yeah?”

Lucy knew that she couldn't back out now. Getting out of the car to tell him what she had just figured out had been a spontaneous idea.  
After he had learned what he car meant to her, he had used his connections to get her a lead and then even spend his evening helping her get her car back.  
He could have laughed about her emotional connection to the car, it was just a vehicle after all, but instead he did everything he could to help her without taking any credit for it.  
She felt like after everything he had done for her, she owed it to him to tell him the truth.

He was looking at her expectantly and she knew it was now or never.

“I was wrong earlier. I said that after what had happened with Caleb my car was the only place I felt safe”, she began, not breaking eye contact with him even though she still felt vulnerable talking about the topic. They both felt the shift happen when Caleb’s name or the events of the evening were brough up. 

Tim felt himself stiffen, his jaw tensed, his heart pounding in his chest. He felt so goddamn helpless when she talked about the marks the trauma had left on her.  
He wanted to punch something, because he couldn’t understand how someone could hurt her, the kindest and most generous person he had ever met.  
He wanted to cross the distance between them and hold her like he had when he had pulled her from the barrel and brought her back to life. 

But he didn’t do anything, instead he stood perfectly still, listening and waiting for her to continue. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the consequences her words might have.

“I realized that where I feel safe isn’t a place anymore. It’s a person.”

His mind couldn't keep up with her and he was taken aback by the words that followed.

“I realized that, my safe space is a person and- and that person is you.”

She was speaking with confidence, but he could see the fear of rejection on her face. She had courage, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t afraid of going too far, of crossing a line he wasn’t ready to cross yet and pushing him away instead.

The silence felt heavy. 

Lucy’s heart was pounding in her chest while she starred at Tim. He seemed shocked, but his expression also held something else. It was his eyes; they gave something away that seemed to be a trace of tenderness. He looked at her in awe, admiring how she always managed to find words that rendered him speechless and made him question everything.  
She made him feel like a completely different person when he was around her, someone who was worthy of love despite his past.

And in that moment, he realized two things. 

For one, after everything Lucy Chen had been through, she still held so much love in her heart, something he had believed was a weakness when he had first met her and now knew was actually her greatest strength.  
And second, he couldn’t deny it to himself anymore, he was deeply in love with her.

“Goodnight Tim”, Lucy whispered and walked back to her car. 

But she wasn’t disappointed that he hadn’t answered her, because in some way he had answered her more than he could have done by using words.  
His gaze had held everything and before turning away she had seen the hint of a soft smile on his face. Lucy couldn’t help but smile to herself. 

She had always known that when Tim cared about someone, he cared with all he had. In her eyes it was one of his strongest traits.  
But she would have never though that she would become such a person to him. 

Just two more days. 

Two more days and she wouldn’t be his rookie anymore. 

Two more days and maybe they would dare to cross another line.


End file.
